👷🏾♀️ How we use effective solutions to impact girls and women in Ndiaganiao, Senegal (Episode 3) 🛠️
In Soussoum (commune of #Ndiaganiao in #Senegal), we discovered a classic story of a broken-down millet mill. 🚧
❓ No one remembers the name of the international organization or program that procure this building and millet mill machine, which was abandoned less than 3 months before it was inaugurated. 😞
Left in the hands of 3 village women's groups (GPFs - Groupements de Promotion Féminine) from 3 village neighborhoods, this millet mill went through the classic ups and downs of most mills in our villages.
After setting up a logistical model to buy and bring in fuel (diesel) from a clandestine dealer in Ndiaganiao Escale (7 km from Soussoum). ⛽
Once the people in charge had been determined and the key to distributing the income from the sale of mill services had been established, everything went smoothly...
Until the 1st breakdown, of course... 🤦🏾
Perhaps the fuel was of poor quality, perhaps the mill was not being used properly, or perhaps for some reason unknown to everyone... the mill stopped. ⛔
📝After searching for a solution and receiving a rather salty estimate from a technician of the community, the GPFs declared that they could not take care of these repairs because the breakdown had occurred on a day when the use was managed by another GFP. 💸
💢 Tensions rose, names were mentioned, stories that had nothing to do with the affair resurfaced, everyone wanted to get involved... in short, it was decided by mutual agreement to leave the mill where it was and that it was better for everyone... 🤝
And the women went back to their scavenging, walking or riding in carriages back and forth to Ndiaganiao to get the services of a miller. 🎭
Unfortunately, this scenario didn't only happen in Soussoum, but in almost every place where the carcasses of mills and social buildings were offered to the local people in total self-management. 😱
Based on this observation, we at Nadji.Bi Sénégal decided to change the game by developing a physical and digital infrastructure that would allow the peaceful management of service centers for rural women, which we called Walalma.
💡 Looking ahead, a solar and sustainable solution, #MadeinSenegal 🌞
Stay tuned for the rest of this great story #Walalma 🚀
Walalma: a project of the Nadji.Bi Sénégal, whose "Connected Solar Center for Rural Women - Walalma 2" in Soussoum was co-financed by l'Agence des Micro-Projets of the NGO La Guilde and the Association Argonne-Manengouba
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7180228139443204096
Self-management or self-catastrophe?